About
John Millington Synge, born in Rathfarnham near Dublin, is a major figure of the Irish Literary Revival. After studying at Trinity College and a stay in Paris, he followed W. B. Yeats's advice and went to the Aran Islands, where he collected local folklore. His plays, including Riders to the Sea and The Playboy of the Western World, depict Irish rural life with a raw realism that sparked riots at their premieres. He was a co-director of the Abbey Theatre. Suffering from Hodgkin's disease, he died at 37, leaving a dramatic and prose work that profoundly influenced modern theatre.
* 1871-04-16 — † 1909-03-24
Major works
- In the Shadow of the Glen (1903)play
- Riders to the Sea (1904)play
- The Well of the Saints (1905)play
- The Playboy of the Western World (1907)play
- The Aran Islands (1907)prose
Key milestones
- 1896Meets W. B. Yeats in Paris, who encourages him to go to the Aran Islands.
- 1907The premiere of The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre causes riots.
- 1909Dies in Dublin on 24 March, aged 37.
Themes
Irish rural lifeFolklore and mythologyDeath and mourningNational identityLanguage and dialect
Sources: digitalcollections.tcd.ie · abbeytheatre.ie · britannica.com